Rhodri Clarke at Hans Vonk Music House

Today I had the pleasure of attending a concert given by Melbourne pianist and first class honours graduate of the Royal College of Music, London, Rhodri Clarke. Rhodri is a very talented young man who gave a splendid performance of pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. His program included an excerpt from Bach’s Toccata in D major BWV S-912, Beethoven’s Sonata in D minor Op 31 No2 (“Tempest”), Chopin’s Etude in A flat Op 25 no 1, Ballade Op 23 in G minor, Prelude in D flat major (“Raindrop”), Liszt’s famous Liebestraum No 3 and a wonderfully dramatic finish with Liszt’s Concert Paraphrase on Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto‘. Rhodri is a pianist of astounding experience and ability, and it was a priviledge to hear him play. He plays very sensitively, with beautiful touch and magnificent dynamic range. His fingers flew over the keys all pieces, but particularly in the lyrical Chopin and Liszt pieces.

To give you a taste of Rhodri’s superb playing here is a clip of him playing Chopin’s Nocturne Op 48 No 1.

The concert took place at Hans Vonk Music House in Spreyton, which was a perfect venue for a warm autumn day. With the windows open, sun shining, cool breeze wafting gently in, wine and nibbles, and superb piano playing to listen to, it made for a most pleasant Sunday afternoon indeed.

Hans Vonk Music House

Playing when your toes are freezing – Chocolate Winterfest

Trio Al Dente, had the pleasure of playing at the Anvers Chocolate Winterfest on Sunday July 10th. The Winterfest is a regular event in our part of the world and attracts many chocolate lovers from all over the state. Our trio was playing for the “Chocolate High Tea”. Guests were served a three tiered selection of sandwiches, baked goods and the delicious Anvers chocolates and fudges.

Getting ready to play our next piece

In previous years, it has usually rained on the festival. This year it was just plain freezing!

As it was our first time at the event we didn’t really know what it would be like to play in 8 or 9 degrees Celsius. We were playing in a marquee which was heated but obviously it was nowhere near as warm as being inside.  As we played the day warmed up a little. We didn’t have many breaks so not much opportunity to warm up completely. Close to the end we even had a downpour and a thunderstorm…we just kept playing!

We were well looked after by the Anvers staff and, despite the cold, we thoroughly enjoyed playing together for 4 1/2 hours! Hopefully we’ll be asked back next year

Our experience with outdoor performance

A couple of weeks ago our trio, Trio Al Dente, performed at a local outdoor event, Classical Meets Jazz.  The event has enjoyed much success for about 10 years. Imagine a lovely warm summer day, sitting outdoors, listening to a variety of music whilst eating your picnic lunch.  Sounds very relaxing and enjoyable doesn’t it?

It had rained all day on the day before our performance.  We were unsure whether the event would even proceed or not  early that morning.  The forcast suggested the rain would mostly clear. The organiser made the decision: it would go ahead.

From a player’s point of view it was not at all pleasant.  The wind tore through the stage area, threatening not just to blow the music off the stands (it was pegged on) but to blow the stands themselves over! They were pretty sturdy ones too. Our pianist needed not just a page turner, but someone to hold the music down during the whole time she was playing. At one point our cellist’s music blew off the stand completely. He just kept going as if nothing had happened and picked it up when the piece finished! Meanwhile, I just pinned the music to the stand with the scroll of my violin. The stage was covered from above, but completely open at the front and a couple of times rain fell on the performers.  How the grand piano survived I’m not sure. It was well under the shelter though so I think that was what helped protect it. My violin was not as fortunate though. 

From the audience point of view, it was a different story. They were well rugged up.  Many had not only brought blankets to sit on but also to wrap themselves in. They could buy coffee and barbequed sausages – they definitely were not suffering too much!  From comments we heard later, we discovered that the sound had been very good, the atmosphere of the event was wonderful and people enjoyed it.

So was an outdoor performance a good idea?  If we had trusted our own instincts we would have said “Not in that kind of weather”! However, the audience reponse and comments seem to prove that sometimes you just have to keep going even if it’s tough.

Will we do it again? Ah, you’ll just have to wait and see………..

Kid’s music – how soon should I start?

It’s summer in Australia and consequently all educational institutions have been having a lovely long break. My girls are both at university and over the last few summers they have invited their friends over to see a bit of the best part of Australia, Tasmania. They have a great time and we get to know our daughter’s friends a little better.

We have lots of interesting conversations too.  One day, for some elusive reason, we were talking about babies. One of my daughter’s friends, had an extremely interesting experience.

During the year she had heard a piece of music that seemed quite familiar to her. She looked up the title but did not recognise it. It wasn’t a piece she had played or sung recently, so why was it so familiar? Puzzled, she went to her mother and asked her about it.  Her mother recognised the piece immediately! She said that she had played that piece to her when she was pregnant!

People often say that if you sing to your baby before he/she is born they will be soothed by that particular piece or song afterwards, but to actually recognise it as an adult is pretty amazing!

You can find out more about listening to music while pregnant here. And if you are interested in finding out what you can do after your baby’s birth, and don’t feel too confident to do things yourself, you really cannot go past Kindermusik. Read more about how music helps your child’s development and download Kindermusik’s free research booklets here.

ABOUT KINDERMUSIK: Kindermusik is a music and movement program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and young children which began in the late 1960s. It draws on the work of esteemed musicians and educators from Europe and Asia, including Shinichi Suzuki, Maria Montessori, and Carl Orff.  Kindermusik is continually upgrading it’s programs, seeking the input of experts in music, education, and child development.

It’s all about sound…

When I began my tertiary music training I had very little idea that I would become a music teacher. All I ever wanted to do was play violin. I was not altogether enthusiastic about teaching. Obviously I was too young and naive to think about how I’d earn my bread and butter when I finally finished!

Since then of course I’ve had a complete mind change. Teaching is something I could do for hours and not get tired. It’s one of those things that seems to be the perfect job for me. I love it.

Just a few weeks ago I began doing some re-thinking about my teaching style. A good thing to do if you’ve been doing things the same way for while. I’ve incorporated a few things I’ve learnt from other teachers, and a little bit of Kodaly. But, on the whole, I tend to teach from the printed music. This is not necessarily something I planned to do; it’s just the way things turned out. It has been reasonably successful up until the last few years when I seemed to gain some children who struggle excessively with aural skills.

They are fine with rhythm, music reading/notation and producing a good tone. Some of them also play from memory. But the elusive part is intonation. With the violin, a small shift in position affects all the notes on that string. If the first finger is flat then usually the other three fingers are flat as well.

So what is it that has caused this decline in aural awareness?  My theory is that it has a lot to do with the home environment, the types and styles of music a child is exposed to and how old they are when they are exposed to them.

When you think of someone like Mozart you can easily imagine, with his father being a musician, that he was exposed to music from a very early age, probably from birth. Dr Shinichi Suzuki founded the world wide music education movement known as the Suzuki Method on this very concept. Suzuki observed how easily children learned to speak their native language and concluded that children could learn music this way if taught with love and dedication. This means starting very young. It’s not uncommon for children taught this method to begin at 3 years of age.

The distinction between the Suzuki style of teaching and traditional teaching is that the Suzuki Method relies very much on aural training coming first, way ahead of reading. And when you really think about it, isn’t that what music is all about? The dots and markings on the page are not music in the sense of something we hear. They are more like a historical record or permanent indication of the composer’s intentions.

Suzuki is big on involving the parents too. Parental involvement is very much central to the early learning period. This correlates very well to something I’ve noticed in my years of teaching. Again and again, with my own students, those who excel are those whose parents are genuinely interested in their progress and are intentional in their involvement. They encourage the child to go beyond what they think they are capable of, to try new things and not to be afraid of failure.

So, it looks like Suzuki is something to look into a little more depth. Developing a good tone and accurate intonation is crucial to good violin/string playing. After all, music is all about sound.

(Read more about the Suzuki Method here.)

Tasmania Discovery Orchestra Meets Stephen Schwartz

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of playing with the Tasmania Discovery Orchestra in  An Evening with Stephen Schwartz as part of the Festival of Broadway.

The Tasmania Discovery Orchestra (TDO) is an initiative of the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and came into being in March of this year. It is an orchestra designed to offer musicians with advanced orchestral instrument skills the opportunity to come together and make great music in Hobart, Tasmania. Entry is by audition.

The rehearsal arrangement is designed to encourage interstate players and so is quite compact.  We had five rehearsals: two on Thursday, two on Friday, and one on Saturday, followed by the concert.

Stephen Schwartz is an extremely talented musician and lyricist. It was a delight to see and hear him,  both in interview and performing. The interviewer for the night was Michael A Kerker, the Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). 

Schwartz’ description of the writing process was quite illuminating. It is very easy to have the impression that composers or lyricists sit down and just write what comes to them in an unending flow.  This idea was soon corrected as Schwartz told of many incidences of having to write and re-write until he was satisfied with the end result.

Later on he played a piece he had re-worked, in its original form, at the piano. He then went on to play the second re-write and finally the third, explaining along the way his reasoning for changing the lyrics and the eventual title of the song.  All this was done completely without written music!

Soloists at the concert included some absolutely amazing singers: Liz Callaway, Michael Rose, Silvie Paladino, Adrian Li Donni, Ben Davidson, Julie O’Reilly and Michael Lampard. Musical numbers were from Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, Children of Eden, The Baker’s Wife, Rags and Wicked.

The first Australian performance of two excerpts from Schwartz’ first opera, Séance On A Wet Afternoon, were also performed by Julie O’Reilly and Ben Davidson. The opera premiered at the Opera Santa Barbara late last year and will be performed  in Australia in 2011.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable evening and a thrill to be in the orchestra for such a pleasurable event.

AMEB Online Exam Centre goes live

 The AMEB (Australian Music Examinations Board) online examination website is now live. Take a look here.  There is a sample paper for you to complete (Grade 1 level) to get an idea of how it works. Plus a sample tutorial.

Initial registration is free, requiring your name and contact details plus username and password. Once registered you can log in and, at some future date, buy an exam. Once you have bought an exam you will have an exam key to enable viewing of tutorials and practice exams.

Examinations available to buy are in the following syllabuses:

• Music Craft
• Theory of Music
• Musicianship
• Speech and Performance

The syllabus requirements for each of these can be found in the drop down list under the syllabuses link. They are in the form of a scrolling page from the current AMEB manual. Very handy! The print is a little on the small side but as they are in pdf format there is ample option to resize for better viewing. The ‘Speech and Performance’ link is not working at present.

To run the examination on your computer you will need Microsoft Windows PC (XP or higher) or a Mac with a modern web browser and the shockwave plugin.  Regarding the type of browser, I quote the from the FAQ section of the site:

“On Microsoft Windows the software works with Internet Explorer 7 or better, Firefox or Google Chrome. On Mac computers the software runs best in Safari and Firefox. If you choose to use Safari, your browser will crash at the end of an examination when you send the results. The good news is that the crash always occurs after the data has been sent and your results will be waiting for you when you log back in.”

Taking the exam requires a Supervisor who must be present for the whole time.  Supervisor protocol can be found here. 

The next step, which I am very much looking forward to, is being able to enter the practical exams online too. Well done AMEB!

Quotes from Camelot

I’m not accomplished at thinking so I have Merlyn do it for me. ~ King Arthur

Knights gathering…flowers…your Majesty? ~ Lancelot

Tell me, Milord, have you come into contact with humility lately? ~ Guenevere to Lancelot, after he has professed his prowess to all present

We Pellinores are a tenacious lot. When I get my teeth into something, I sometimes have to leave them there. ~ King Pellinore

The toughest one last eh? You know, Mrs Queen….you’re a prince! ~ Pellinore, when Guenevere tells him the order of the jousts.

Do you know what he did to me once? Mother had a youth potion that took off ten years. When I was nine, he gave it to me. ~ Mordred,  speaking of his step father, King Lot

The adage “Blood is thicker than water”  was invented by undeserving relatives. ~ King Arthur to Mordred

Arthur, you bring the bows and arrows, and I’ll bring the sandwiches. ~ King Pellinore to King Arthur regarding hunting the next day

I want to find that bird, what? I mean, if you his a bird with an arrow, it ought to fall down like a gentleman…..unless it’s a ladybird. ~ King Pellinore

I say, Arthur. Who are you waving at? ~ King Pellinore to King Arthur who is feeling around an invisible wall put there by Morgan le Fey

Look here Morbid, or whatever your name is. I don’t know what slushes through that swampy little mind of yours, but while the King is away, I am in charge of this castle.  And I’m no a believer in all this civil law nonsense.  You make one false move, and you’ll face the jury in two sections, what? Carry the head in myself. Gladly. Oh, wouldn’t I love that! You medieval delinquent! ~ King Pellinore to Mordred, as he is searching for Lancelot and Guenevere

The strange misconceptions some people have regarding musicians…

Musicians talking about the things people ask them about their job and the answers they give. I love the answer to the question, “So what are you going to do when you grow up?”

Little things matter

I recently gained a new adult cello student. He came back this week for his second lesson complaining of a sore wrist in his bowing arm.  A bit of a puzzle!

In the course of the lesson I began to explain again the technique of the right hand in holding the bow and the position of the bow on the string. I explained that he needed to have the bow hair parallel with the floor as he lowered it on to the string.

He gave a sudden exclamation, “Oh, I thought the hair had to be flat against the string!”  The “aha!” moment! A simple adjustment to the postion of the hand and away he went, with a far more relaxed (and correct) bow hold.

How vigilant we need to be as teachers, continually monitoring our students technique to make sure they are on the right track!